Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Abbotskerswell

A parish church with 13th-century chancel fabric, its nave, aisle and tower dating from the 15th century. The building was heavily restored by William Butterfield between 1881 and 1883. The walls are constructed of limestone and red sandstone rubble with dressings in granite, red sandstone, Bathstone and Beerstone, beneath gable-ended slate roofs covering the chancel, nave, aisle and porch.

The west tower is a three-stage battlemented structure with a chamfered plinth and diagonal buttresses. A central pentagonal stair turret on its south side has two arched slit openings, one square-headed at the top. The belfry openings are arched, with two lights and a single light beside the stair turret respectively. The west doorway retains its original 4-centred arched granite frame with chamfer and scratch moulding, though the limestone arched architrave is worn. Above it stands a restored 4-light window with Perpendicular tracery.

The north aisle has four restored windows: the outer two in Bathstone and the centre two in Beerstone. A 2-light restored west window to the aisle is in Bathstone. The aisle is strengthened by intermediate and diagonal buttresses. Both east windows are 3-light 19th-century restorations in Bathstone.

The chancel is unbuttressed and lacks a plinth. Its north wall contains a single-light 13th-century lancet with chamfered red sandstone frame. On the south wall at the east end is a 15th-century volcanic stone 3-light Perpendicular window with chamfered mullions and hoodmoulds. Immediately to its left stands a 15th-century priest's door with 4-centred arched chamfered red sandstone frame. Further west is a late 15th or early 16th-century 3-light granite mullion window with 4-centred hoodmould, and beyond this a demi-hexagonal rood stair turret. The nave contains another 15th-century Perpendicular 3-light window in granite with moulded mullions and frame, with a 19th-century restored Perpendicular window in Bathstone to its left.

The south porch, considerably restored in the 19th century, features offset buttresses with quatrefoil decoration above the outer doorway. The two Beerstone arched doorways do not appear original, but incorporate older carved stone pieces either side and above, possibly armorial bearings.

The interior shows a four-bay arcade of granite Pevsner Type A piers to the north side with Beerstone foliage capitals and moulded 4-centred arches. The tower arch is rendered with a semi-circular head and chamfered imposts. A blocked limestone arched doorway to the right of the south doorway suggests that a former two-storeyed porch once stood here, with stairs accessed through this opening.

The east wall of the north chapel contains a piscina with semi-circular arched opening and surviving drain. The south chancel wall has a piscina with a very worn arched surround. Built into the south chancel window is a badly mutilated, larger-than-life medieval stone statue of the Virgin Mary, discovered during the restoration.

A 15th-century rood screen, partially restored, extends across the nave and aisle with the coving replaced by flat plain panels. It displays Pevsner type A tracery with a running vine motif to the cornice. An early 16th-century parclose screen, also partially restored, is castellated with a Tudor arch to its doorway. The wagon roofs are all late 19th-century reconstructions. The font is a plain octagonal 15th-century granite piece. On the tower floor is a ledger-stone dated 1725 to John Wotton.